Why Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair and Jamie King Are Teaching Their Children to Give Back

Reese recently hosted the Baby2Baby Holiday Party presented by Tiny Prints, the decor a magical winter wonderland where 30 underprivileged young children from Volunteers of America got to play in the snow, sit on Santa’s lap and open lots of presents.

“It’s an incredible event for these kids” Reese says. “They get to come experience craft making, and pony rides, and face painting, and they get to sit with Santa and talk, it really shows the spirit of Baby2Baby as an organization, which is about reaching out and giving kids just that little extra boost that they need not just at the holiday time but all throughout the year. It can make a really big difference in their lives.”

And while we may usually just see these leading ladies in the limelight, they are also mothers who believe strongly in teaching their children to give back to the community.

Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Baby2Baby & Tiny Prints

Selma Blair exclusively tells E! News, “I think now more than ever people are afraid, afraid of the future—whether it’s real or imagined, there is a great fear and I think more than ever we have begun to unite together as a community as moms for other kids, for parents that are nervous or scared, financial and political stuff that is happening. I think we have a great opportunity to take all these feelings and come together and help everybody.”

“It’s always important to give back, more than ever since I had a child,” Selma continued. “The only thing that’s got me through something is when people have reached out and helped me, and said, ‘Do you need help with something? What can I do to help yours and Arthur‘s life so you don’t have to be lacking in money, or anything to be needing peoples assistance?’ It’s a natural part of life whether financial, time, or support from people who have come a farther way than you have at that time.”

Thanks to his mom, Selma’s 5-year-old son Arthur also understands the importance of giving back. “He loves when people make time to play with him, and so he completely understands why it’s important for other children to have that opportunity,” the actress tells us.

“In our house we run a tight budget, I’m a single mom and he gets one present from me. I have siblings so they send him presents and he knows that people don’t have stuff, he is very aware, and specifically aware of homelessness, he’s always asked about it. And I tell him everyone deserves respect while going through something hard. Maybe they can’t pay for things, and he really does get it, and respects everybody, which is most important, not to make someone feel less than because they are in a more challenging spot in their life.

“And he understands that it takes other grownups really helping, and that it’s going to take his whole age group to make the earth a place that can house everybody.”

Jamie King also shared that her children both understand what it means to give back and why it’s important.

“It’s what my mother taught me,” the actress and model, who’s mom to sons James and Leo, says. “My mother took in five children when she was 24 years old, and she was always the kind of person that was consistently teaching us to be of service and how to give back to the world, and give back to people that need your assistance. She was completely selfless about it, so because I was raised that way, we do the same with our children. We meditate every night and we send light and we pray—and it’s not just about that.

“That is one aspect of it, being in tune with yourself, but also about making sure they are aware what is going on in the world and how they can share, and how they can give back.”

It is this type of love, community and caring for one another that the holidays are all about.